


Won't You Stay A While?

by robogalaxy



Series: deadlyroses 🌹 [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Mild Language, One Shot, Pillow Talk, Post-Coital Cuddling, Pre-Canon, Song Based, if i didn't write this then i would've exploded
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:27:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23020198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robogalaxy/pseuds/robogalaxy
Summary: Late, late Wyndon nights pave the way for crucial, intimate conversations.
Relationships: Olive | Oleana/Rose | Chairman Rose
Series: deadlyroses 🌹 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2162211
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	Won't You Stay A While?

It was a steady rhythm, the way her bare chest moved up and down with each inhale and exhale she took. Oleana looked out the window of the suite from the bed, faintly hearing the rushing trains from south of Rose's residence. Her blonde hair sprawled across the silk pillowcases and she was held close in Rose's arms. He kissed at the nape of her neck gently while she gazed out onto the night sky. Oleana wanted to speak, to break the silence, to finally say the words so desperately on her mind, but the sensations of the past hour replayed in her head and left her warm yet covered with chills. 

This was not the first time this had happened between the two of them - in fact, if their calculations were correct, tonight marked the third time they'd slept together - and the first time Oleana didn't immediately try to initiate a formal conversation afterwards. All her attention gravitated towards the stars in the sky rather than the search for her clothes across the carpeted floors followed by redressing herself in the adjacent bathroom. It wasn't as if she up and left immediately after they'd both reached climax, but she normally never stayed wrapped up in Rose's embrace for more than ten minutes before getting out of bed. With almost fifteen minutes passing by without even a single shift of Oleana's body or a single word out of her mouth, Rose figured something was different about tonight. He didn't press any further, though, and just went about continuing his affections. It was all he could _think_ to do, and it was all he _wanted_ to do. Another distant sound of a monorail was heard in the distance, and this rush of noise somehow allowed Oleana to regain her voice. _Now or never_ , she thought as she let out a long sigh and distracted Rose from tenderly kissing her. 

"Is everything alright, Ol-"

"What are we?" Oleana blurted out, still avoiding eye contact with her lover. Rose swore he heard a small crack in her hushed voice, but let her finish her thoughts before he put in a say. "I mean it, Antony," Oleana continued, removing herself from Rose's arms and sitting up on the bed. Her first instinct was to grab the comforter and try to pull it up over her chest for the sake of modesty, but there was nothing she needed to hide. It wasn't anything Rose hadn't seen (or kissed upon) before.

"What are we?" Rose repeated, the gravity of the situation dawning on him as he looked up at Oleana, "Well, Oleana, what do you _want_ to be?" Though well intentioned, Rose's comment caused Oleana to tear up in frustration. 

"Hell if I know," she replied with a now obvious crack in her voice, "all I know is we aren't just business partners or friends anymore. We've crossed a line. We crossed it almost six months ago." 

"I know," Rose agreed, sitting up so he could be level with Oleana, "it's not that simple. It can't be that simple. It’s not possible.”

"It's obvious you care about me deeply and it's maybe even more blatant that I care about you," she explained, "and we both know we can't survive with that burden on our shoulders. It sure isn't simple." 

"Right..." Rose trailed off, his hand absentmindedly reaching towards Oleana's. She didn't notice, but Rose surmised she wouldn't have held onto it even if she did. "Yes, I must admit that this has been on my mind for as long as this has been happening, and I imagine you've been feeling the same. No, no, you _DO_ feel the same." 

"I don't know what we should do," Oleana said with a slight bit of laughter under her breath, “I have no earthly idea!" She covered her mouth with a hand to hide her “smile,” but the facade didn’t fool Rose in the slightest; he noticed her blinking tears out of her eyes and watched as they fell onto the comforter, leaving little wet spots that darkened the maroon of the sheets. He felt a slight ache in his chest watching the woman try to hide her emotions and wished to lay her down in his arms again, holding her closely to him so she could drift off somewhere where the harsh complexities of life didn't exist. 

“Am I _supposed_ to know?” Oleana questioned, shifting her focus away from the window and instead to the large grandfather clock that sat right beside it. She’d been here since nine, they’d reached the bedroom around midnight, and now she noticed another hour had passed since then. All this time spent with Rose tonight, all that she muttered lovingly to him between the sheets, and she still couldn’t look him in the eye. Turning her head to look at him seemed like an impossible task, and Oleana knew she’d break down if she saw him staring at her with dark eyes drowning in concern, “I don’t, if that’s the case. I don’t know.”

“Oleana, you don’t have to,” Rose affirmed, “I don’t know either, if that helps.” 

“ _We_ don’t know then,” Oleana sighed. She tried masking her oncoming sniffling with a cough, but it was a fruitless attempt, “ _we_ don’t know.” Gripping the comforter tight in her hands, Oleana lifted it to wipe away the warm tears before they started falling down her face. Her breathing became shaky, her knuckles turning white from the strength of her grasp on the comforter and her voice lowering into a saddened whisper. “All I want is to know,” she continued. Her voice was teetering on the edge of becoming hoarse, so Rose determined it was time for him to speak his worries.

“I don’t want to keep doing this, Oleana,” he said, “I don’t want to be with you like this. Not on and off, at least.”

“Likewise,” Oleana whispered.

“I want to be with you,” Rose reassured, “don’t doubt about that.”

“Likewise,” Oleana repeated. Exhausted from the strenuous activity that happened between the two and even more so due to letting herself cry, Oleana laid back down on the bed. Her back was still turned to Rose.

“Please, my love,” he asked, “will you look at me?” 

“Can’t I just listen? I’m content with laying here and listening.” 

“How can we discuss this if I can’t look you in the eyes, Oleana? This is incredibly important to talk about. It’s about us. Not you, not me, us. Please, won’t you for just a minute?” 

“Antony,” Oleana warned, “I just want to listen. You’ve seen enough of me tonight. Inside and out.” Her statement was accompanied by somewhat of a bitter tone, as if engaging with Rose was something she regretted. Rose picked up on the inflection, and it made his heart ache even more for Oleana. His concern for her well being topped his own wants, so he nodded. He touched Oleana’s shoulder as a way to console her, caressing up and down her arm. 

“Is this okay for me to do?”

“...It’s okay,” Oleana muttered from under the comforter. The gentleness of his hand on her skin brought back the warm feeling in her face and stomach, giving her the energy to turn around and look into her lover’s dark eyes. However, she remained stationary and allowed Rose to be affectionate once again.

“You’re so tired, my dearest,” he said, “I can see it in your eyes.”

“And you aren’t?”

“Oh, yes. So much so,” Rose responded, “but I couldn’t sleep knowing you were going to go home so conflicted. I couldn’t sleep knowing _I_ was this conflicted. Oleana, I…” Rose stammered, his sentence getting caught in his throat. Dropping a declaration of love in such a tense moment wouldn’t fix anything for either of them; rather, it would negatively escalate a moment already filled to the brim with insecurities. 

“You…?” Oleana began, trailing off in hopes Rose would pick up where he left off. 

“I… I hold you in my heart, Oleana,” Rose said in an attempt to save himself from exposing his truest feelings, “I keep you in my highest regards. You keep me sane during all those press conferences and make sure I don’t make a fool of myself whenever I may have otherwise.” 

“It’s what I aim to do,” she said. Her sentences were blunt, her eyes were half lidded, and the soothing touch of Rose’s hand on her arm didn’t help to keep her awake. Trying as best as she could not to fall under the spell of exhaustion, Oleana stretched and sat back up. Glancing at the clock again and noticing the hour hand inching closer and closer to two in the morning, Oleana groaned and directed her attention back to Rose. 

“It’s getting late, Antony,” she noticed, “I should get going soon.”

“Why so?”

“I feel like I’ve overstayed my welcome is all. Brought up topics too sensitive for us to discuss maturely right now,” she explained through her low, semi-hoarse voice, “and I don’t imagine you’d want to have me running on no sleep at work tomorrow.” 

“Overexerting yourself is a bad habit of yours,” Rose pointed out, “and I don’t want to wear you out even more so than our discussion did. You’re free to spend the night.” 

“ _Spend the night_?” Oleana gasped. She seemed to perk up instantly and looked at her lover with wide eyes, “Sleep here? Stay the night?” 

“I cannot let you leave like this, my love,” Rose responded carefully, “and it gives us time to further talk about...about what we are in the morning, if you’d like.” His hand reached to play with Oleana’s hair while she remained almost as still as a statue; her only movements were the rise of her chest with every breath in and the darting of her eyes around the room. “Is that okay, my love?” Rose sat in place as he waited for an answer, but Oleana’s mind was divided and indecisive - whether or not to remain cuddled under the covers plagued her mind as Rose sat patiently for her answer. To pass the time, he admired her piercing eyes and ran his fingers through hair softer than the pillows they were laying on. Aside from the loud but now less frequent trains arriving and leaving south of them, the room was entirely serene. 

“My love?” Rose called out in order to break the saddening silence. Oleana acknowledged his nickname for her and flustered when it reached her ears, but she didn’t respond. Her mind was still trying to weigh the pros and cons of both arrangements. 

“My love, my love, my _love_ ,” Rose repeated affectionately, “please...won’t you stay a while?” His words lingered in the air for some time while Oleana tried to pinpoint her exact decisions. Her mind raced with the possibilities of both scenarios while the emotional weight of their undefined relationship status sat atop it all. 

“I…” she faltered. Sleepiness once again had a strong grasp on her, and thus she turned to look at Rose with the same tired (and yet still so stunning) expression she had held for a majority of their chat. He stared back with a combination of hope, anxiety, and adoration. 

“My dearest?” 

“...I think I’d like to sleep on all this, Antony,” Oleana said, “just sleep and not have to put myself or you, for that matter, into a panic about what we are to each other. Leave it at ‘crossing a line.’ Fair?” 

“Fair.”

“Thank you, Antony,” were Oleana’s last comprehensible words before she yawned, covered herself with the luxury sheets, crashed onto Rose’s shoulder and became cradled up in the same embrace that only wished to hold her this close forever.

**Author's Note:**

> title and rose's ending dialogue come from lewis capaldi's song "hold me while you wait." 
> 
> this is the first ship i've ever had the urge to write a "what are we?" conversation for, and boy, i worked HARD on this. i hope you enjoyed reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it!!! it's sort of sad and it really doesn't end HAPPILY, but it ends tenderly. and that's good enough for me and hopefully everyone else who stalks this ship tag. promise i'll write a more lighthearted, idiot chairman rose and frazzled secretary oleana fic at some point!!
> 
> thank you for reading!~ feel free to leave kudos, comments, and bookmarks <3


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